Keypoints:
- €225m represents new financing
- Railway carries minerals and passengers
- Environmental risks require scrutiny
GABON has secured a €312m financing agreement led by IFC and Proparco to modernise the Trans-Gabon Railway, strengthening a corridor carrying manganese, passengers and freight between the interior and the Atlantic port of Owendo.
It will test whether Gabon can build the logistics needed for domestic mineral processing while protecting passenger services, communities and the environment along the country’s only rail line.
What the €312m package covers
The Phase III agreement comprises €225m in new financing and €87m to refinance debt from earlier stages of the modernisation programme, according to IFC and Proparco. The full headline figure therefore does not represent fresh capital.
The financing complements €173m provided to the Gabonese state by the French Development Agency and a €30m European Union Global Gateway grant.
Under the operating arrangement, the state is responsible for public assets such as bridges and passenger equipment, while SETRAG manages rails, sleepers, ballast and signalling systems.
The agreement followed an MoU signed by Proparco and SETRAG in Nairobi on May 11. IFC records show that the final financing was signed on June 30, while Proparco published the joint announcement on July 21.
Railway carries Gabon’s economy
The 648-kilometre Trans-Gabon Railway runs from Owendo, near Libreville, to Franceville in the east, crossing areas where alternative transport is often limited. SETRAG operates freight and passenger services across 24 stations.
In 2024, the railway carried 264,000 passengers and 8.9m tonnes of freight, including 8.4m tonnes of mining products, IFC records show.
IFC and Proparco say economic activity supported by the line is equivalent to about 20 percent of Gabon’s GDP. That remains the institutions’ own assessment.
The new financing builds on previous phases of Gabon’s railway renewal programme, which have included heavier rails, concrete sleepers and improvements to passenger infrastructure.
Manganese policy raises the stakes
The railway’s strategic importance is growing as Gabon prepares to stop exporting raw manganese from January 1, 2029.
The government wants producers to process more of the mineral domestically, creating jobs and additional state revenue, as detailed in Africa Briefing’s report on Gabon’s raw manganese export ban.
Processing plants will require reliable movement of ore, machinery, fuel and finished products between mining centres and the coast. A stronger railway could therefore become the logistical backbone of Gabon’s shift towards value-added production.
The investment also fits a wider African push to connect critical-minerals production with transport and processing infrastructure.
Passenger service cannot be secondary
SETRAG says 457 kilometres of track have been renewed with concrete sleepers, while 186 kilometres have been fitted with new 60kg-per-metre rails.
Phase III will also upgrade traffic-management systems, add safety barriers and build pedestrian overpasses.
The rehabilitation programme is intended to restore the railway’s original capacity of 16 train pairs a day. IFC documents say work began in 2025 and is expected to continue until 2030, with 96 percent of mainline sleepers and 78 percent of rails due to be renewed by mid-2029.
For communities along the route, success will not be measured by mineral tonnage alone. The railway carries passengers and basic goods to settlements with few dependable alternatives, making affordability, frequency and safety central to its development value.
The project forms part of Africa’s broader railway investment revival, as governments turn to rail to lower logistics costs.
Environmental risks require scrutiny
IFC has classified the project as Category A, reflecting potentially significant environmental and social risks.
Concerns include pedestrian safety, displacement of informal land users, waste management and the railway’s passage through Lopé National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
IFC estimates that the safety and rehabilitation works could physically or economically displace about 500 people, although it says the figure may change after the final railway safety strategy is approved.
SETRAG will be required to follow a resettlement framework covering eligibility, compensation and community consultation.
IFC also says roughly one million creosote-treated wooden sleepers are expected to be replaced and will require controlled disposal. Fires were reported at a used-sleeper storage facility in Booué in 2023 and 2025.
SETRAG must assess possible contamination, strengthen fire controls and confirm a disposal strategy. Pyrolysis was identified as the preferred treatment option, with a disposal pilot scheduled for 2026.
What happens next?
The financing gives SETRAG greater capacity to complete the railway renewal, but implementation will require close coordination with the Gabonese government.
Success will depend on whether the programme improves reliability for passengers and businesses while meeting its environmental and community commitments.
If those conditions are met, the Trans-Gabon Railway could support Gabon’s manganese-processing ambitions and wider economic diversification.
